Cause still under investigation, the Aspen fire burning
within the Coronado National Forest outside of Tucson, Arizona has burned
more than 320 homes and businesses in and near the village of Summerhaven,
within the Santa Catalina Mountains. According to Forest Service personnel,
the Coronado had planned extensive thinning around Summerhaven to protect
the community from inevitable wildfire, yet received only a fraction of
the money requested. Forest Service officials have repeatedly stated that
no appeals or litigation have been filed against proposed projects on
the Forest, and that the limiting factor in protecting Summerhaven was
lack of federal resources.

So where is the money going? In a comparison of spending
on two Arizona National Forests (the Coronado and Kaibab National Forests),
Forest Service documents show that money earmarked for hazardous fuel
reduction continues to be diverted to log large trees in remote backcountry
areas. The Coronado National Forest is not a timber producing forest,
and has many wildland-urban interface communities. In contrast, the Kaibab
National Forest (which borders the north and south rims of the Grand Canyon)
has some of the largest areas of old-growth forest remaining in the Southwest,
and because of its remoteness, very few wildland-urban interface communities.
Despite its relative lack of wildland-urban interface communities, the
Kaibab National Forest received substantially more hazardous fuels funding
in Fiscal Year 2003 than the Coronado National Forest.

Despite Containing Nearly Five Times As Many High
Risk Wildland-Urban Interface Communities, Coronado National Forest Receives
Less Hazardous Fuel Funding than Kaibab National Forest
Number of Arizona wildland-urban interface communities near federal lands
considered by federal agencies to be at high risk from wildfire: 118

Number of wildland-urban interface communities within
the Kaibab National Forest considered by federal agencies to be at high
risk from wildfire: 3

Dollars allocated to Kaibab National Forest for hazardous
fuel reduction in Fiscal Year 2003: 1,241,000

Number of wildland-urban interface communities within
the Coronado National Forest considered by federal agencies to be at high
risk from wildfire: 14

Dollars allocated to Coronado National Forest for hazardous
fuels reduction in Fiscal Year 2003: 877,000

Forest Service Continues to Log More Acres in Remote
Areas Than Acres Treated Adjacent to Fire Prone Communities
Projected acres of hazardous fuels within non-wildland urban
interface areas to be treated on Kaibab National Forest in Fiscal Year
2003: 3,327

Projected acres of hazardous fuels within wildland-urban
interface areas to be treated on Coronado National Forest in Fiscal Year
2003: 686

Money Flows While Old-Growth Continues to Fall
Dollar value of timber sales currently under contract on the Kaibab National
Forest: 322,737

Dollar value of timber sales currently under contract
on the Coronado National Forest: 0

Projected amount of timber sale volume (in board feet)
to be offered on the Kaibab National Forest in Fiscal Year 2003: 19,000,000

Approximate number of logging trucks filled by 19 million
board feet of timber: 3,800

Sources:

Urban Wildland Interface Communities Within the
Vicinity of Federal Lands That Are at High Risks from Wildfire.
66 Federal Register pages 751-777. January 4, 2001

U.S. Forest Service Southwestern Region Fiscal Year
2003 Final Operating Plan. May 20, 2003

U.S. Forest Service Automated Timber Sales Accounting System. Remaining
Timber Sales Volumes and Values by Purchaser as of March 31, 2003